CHINA'S ENVIRONMENTAL AIR - POLLUTION ,THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY IS THE FOUGHT - LARGEST CONTRIBUTOR OF CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND( COD).WHICH HAS CAUSED WIDESPREAD ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH PROBLEMS.TOXIC CHEMICAL POLLUTION IS A REAL AND DEADLY FOR PEOPLE IN CHINA.

China energy, pollution, environment facts & statistics.China is the world’s biggest energy consumer, according to the International Energy Agency. However, is still by far the biggest per-capita energy consumer, China’s carbon dioxide emissions could equal the entire world’s CO2 production today, if the country’s carbon usage keeps pace with its economic growth.Three quarters of a million Chinese people in die prematurely from pollution each year mainly from air pollution in large cities “Cost of Pollution in China”. An estimated 350,000-400,000 people died prematurely from outdoor air pollution and an additional 300,000 died from indoor air pollution, such as the fumes from the coal-burning stoves.

Pollution in China is one aspect of the broader topic of environmental issues in China. Various forms of pollution have increased as China has industrialised, which has caused widespread environmental and health problems.China will either shut down or curtail operations at dozens of steel plants , over the next five months under an aggressive action plan to reduce winter pollution in Beijing and its surrounding areas.With this amplified wealth, individuals are more capable of affording motor vehicles.1,4,5,6 The number of motor vehicles on Beijing’s roads has doubled to 3.3 million with nearly 1200 added each day. Emissions from motorized vehicles contribute to nearly 70% of the city’s air pollution. The four most dangerous pollutants that are emitted include: sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter Newly introduced vehicles have lower emission standards, and thereby emit more of these pollutants into the atmosphere than their older counterparts. Motorized vehicles are only one contributor to air pollution. Population growth in China and Beijing contributes to extensive pollution. Beijing’s population has swelled from 11 million to 16 million in just 7 years, and has doubled over the past century.On most issues China is not only defiant, but openly disobedient. Environmental issues in China are no exception. Despite many western propositions and standards, the Chinese have decided they do not care much for the environment or any protocol that should be followed. There are a number of ways that they openly disregard motions set by global commissions and organizations, but pollution and deforestation are among the worst.Coal burning factories also contribute to the smog present in Beijing. These factories rely on outdated and inefficient technologies. The factories are located on the outskirts of Beijing and the nearby cities of Harbin and Hebei. Beijing is a victim of its own topography because it is surrounded by mountains, ensuring that pollution remains trapped within the city limits. Air quality worsens in spring and summer when temperature and humidity levels rise, and winds contribute to the smog by carrying pollutants from industrialized southern regions. There are a variety of consequences of air pollution in Beijing. Along with health consequences, high levels of harmful emissions have led to hundreds of flight cancellations and frequent road closures due to low visibility levels. Air pollution has increased substantially over the years, resulting in thick smog that often engulfs the entire city.Pollution remains one of the worst environmental issues in China. As recently as 2009 China overtook the United States as the world’s top emitter of fossil fuels at 7,710 metric tons (25.4%). America stood at only 5,420 metric tons in that same year.

China’s air quality has gotten so bad that it has been described, rather accurately, as resembling nuclear winter, as crazy bad, even as something chewable. It is no longer uncommon for people to wake up in the morning and not be able to see through the opaque haze far enough to cleanly make out the buildings right across the street.But China is on it. Declaring war on air pollution, the PRC is prepared to pump 1.7 trillion yuan ($277 billion) into coming up with solutions to curb the fuzzy sludge that opaques most of their country’s cities. This has led to the creation of several new and innovative, interesting pollution fighting methods.The most promising is a parafoil drone, which basically looks like a generator hanging from a parachute, that is being developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China. It’s function is to soar through the air blasting PM 2.5 particles with a chemical which freezes them, thus making them fall to the earth below.

China is choking on its own success. The economy is on a historic run, posting a succession of double-digit growth rates. But the growth derives, now more than at any time in the recent past, from a staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization that requires colossal inputs of energy, almost all from coal, the most readily available, and dirtiest, source.More pressing still, China has entered the most robust stage of its industrial revolution, even as much of the outside world has become preoccupied with global warming.It is true that China is the largest country by population, but their disregard for environmental issues is baffling to many onlookers and critics. Much of China is actually arid desert so it makes no sense that the Chinese would be polluting their air and land so freely. Nonetheless, they have industrialized their cities so much that spending a day in Shanghai is supposedly comparable to smoking a pack of cigarettes.One of the reasons that China is such a poor protector of the environment is their reliance on coal. They consume the most coal in the world and do so without regard to Kyoto Protocol that they have ratified. They are not bound by the agreement, unfortunately, which makes for a difficult situation.While China agrees that they should try their best to eliminate pollution, they have not taken the necessary steps to prove they are willing to do so. The rhetoric from the Chinese Communist party bigwigs is less about curbing their own carbon emissions as much as it is about pointing the finger towards America and historic pollution levels. Their main argument is that Americans pollute more on a per capita basis than do the Chinese.Experts once thought China might overtake the United States as the world’s leading producer of greenhouse gases by 2010, possibly later. Now, the International Energy Agency has said China could become the emissions leader by the end of this year, and the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency said China had already passed that level.After the 'airpocalypse' in 2011/2012, the central government responded with a National Air Pollution Action Plan. At the core of that is a scheme to cut back coal use in the big metropolitan regions. New coal power plants are still being proposed and still being invested [in] by local government and state-owned enterprises as if it was still the good old days. However there will be enough demand to support them, and they will very likely become idle plants.Officials in other northern provinces have displayed a similar zeal after they realised curbing air pollution had become President Xi Jinping’s top priority. Xi’s remarks that “green mountains and clear waters are equal to mountains of gold and silver” have become an official motto repeated extensively and prominently through propaganda campaigns.

Some of the world's most famous clothing brands, including Nike, Adidas Puma, and H&M are using suppliers that pour toxic chemicals into China's rivers, the environmental pressure group Greenpeace has claimed.In a year-long investigation, undercover activists collected water samples from discharge pipes at factories belonging to two of China's largest textile manufacturers which tested positive for dangerous chemicals, including hormone-disrupting alkylphenols that are banned in Europe.More than 70 per cent of China's rivers and lakes are polluted as a result of China's three decades of economic boom, and Greenpeace campaigners called on major brands to use their influence to force the industry to clean up its act.

China's Toxic Water from Textile-Factories ,showing local activists fighting against industrial pollution in their waterways, and cancer sufferers in so-called "cancer villages", linked to pollution from hazardous chemicals. Earlier this year, China's environment ministry released a report officially acknowledging the existence of these villages for the first time and signaling its willingness to address toxic water pollution.Dumping of untreated acid in Chinese canal highlights nation’s water pollution woes.Chemical plant fined 20 million yuan for environmental damage ‘beyond measure’.Textiles leave one of the largest water footprints on the planet and dyeing poses an especially big problem. Dye houses in China is notorious for not only exhausting local water supplies, but for dumping untreated wastewater into local streams and rivers.The industry's challenge is to adopt more water-friendly technologies to dye cotton and polyester, the two most mass marketed textiles. So what can companies do to mitigate the effects of this timeless, yet toxic, dyeing process?Waterless dyeing should be the textile industry's holy grail, but widespread adoption is years away. In Hattori's view, polyester is the prime candidate because dyeing performs best in an airless environment with pressurised high heat, allowing dyes to disperse throughout the fabric. Colouring fabric using this waterless method could be feasible for polyester; natural fibres such as cotton and wool, however, can become damaged undergoing a similar process. Cotton comprises 45% of all fibres used within the global textile industry, so a sharp reduction in water consumption would be a huge process improvement for this sector.To 20 percent of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and treatment, indeed 72 toxic chemicals in China’s water originate solely from textile dyeing. Of these, 30 cannot be removed.That’s a real problem for the textile industry and a risk to the reputations of brands that don’t pay attention to how their supply chains are producing.There are, however, recent initiatives such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which includes Wal-Mart, Hanes, J.C. Penney, Nike, Gap Inc, H&M, Levi Strauss, Marks & Spencer, and Patagonia, among others and the Natural Resource Defense Council’s “Clean by Design.’ Both were established to try to promote best practice and set standards for the industry.The initiatives are trying to help factories think about how they produce and consumers, think about how they buy.In China, Polluted water causes 75 percent of diseases and over 100,000 deaths annually, the World Health organization has said. Meanwhile, cancer rates among villagers who live along polluted waterways are much higher than the national average.Estimates are that 70 percent of lakes and rivers in China are polluted, as well as 90 percent of the groundwater. In all, an estimated 320 million Chinese do not have access to clean drinking water – more than the entire population of the United States.The nationwide standards for the treatment of sewage are also far from sufficient. Despite some improvements in recent years, wastewater, water which has been used in the home, in a business or as part of an industrial process and may now contain hazardous materials, remains a major pollution source, particularly in urban centres. In 2015, 3.78bn cubic metres of untreated wastewater was discharged across China, including 1.98m cubic metres in Beijing alone. This is water that has been ruled unusable for agricultural, industrial and even decorative purposes dumped into rivers and lakes.

About one third of the industrial waste water and more than 90 percent of household sewage in China is released into rivers and lakes without being treated. Nearly 80 percent of China's cities have no sewage treatment facilities and few have plans to build any and underground water supplies in 90 percent of the cites are contaminated.Water shortages and water pollution in China are such a problem that the World Bank warns of “catastrophic consequences for future generations." Half of China's population lacks safe drinking water. Nearly two thirds of China's rural population more than 500 million people use water contaminated by human and industrial waste.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere continue to rise according to new data released by the Environmental Systems Research Laboratory (ESRL) with the rate of increase being the fastest for the second year in a row.The continuous increase in CO2 levels are alarming and call for actions on our part as pointing fingers at natural phenomenon like the 2015-2016 El Nino weather event isn’t going to help. The main reason behind this increase in CO2 levels is the ever increasing emissions and carbon pollution because of extensive use of fossil fuels.The bad air quality that Beijing and most of North China has experienced for much of this year is having an impact on policy. Still, in China, the future is now. While migrant workers, now with a better standard of living, want fair wages and benefits such as health insurance, the Chinese government recognizes that the holy grail of economic growth at the 10 percent plus levels seen over the past two decades is unsustainable if the rampant environmental degradation continues apace.Unrest has been growing across the country, particularly around perceived labor and environmental violations, with tens of thousands of mostly small protests annually, many of them unreported.In general there is significant pressure on local suppliers to cut costs and this has only become worse over the past year with labor prices rising in Chin. The manufacturers cut corners on environmental standards to lower their costs and win contracts.Besides the cost of cleaning up contaminated water, land and air, pollution will cost China billions in additional health care, lost productivity and early mortality, dragging down growth, the government recognizes. The World Bank in a 2007 report estimated China’s environmental costs at around $100 billion a year, or about 5.8 percent of GDP, including the impact on mortality.So any way you look at it, those clothes we like to buy in abundance, and have been taught in recent years to purchase and throw away without thought because prices are so cheap and styles constantly new, are a real problem for the environment, for workers who make them and ultimately for China’s economy.